Only a Mirage
by Nickkp9
Summary: Eggman goes far. He never stops, for the sake of his own lust for power. Alas, When you anger troublemakers, they make trouble for you. Everything isn't as it seems on this journey. Some of it, may just be a mirage. And some mirages? They may be real.


**Note: This was not entirely made by me, I also had help on it with a friend of mine, called Jake. So, we don't own Sonic & Co, and we don't really own anything anyway, so enjoy!**

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It was a slightly humid day. The mosquitoes were everywhere, and the children all sat on the edge of the fence. They swatted at the air, sometimes hitting each other, but as the two racers stepped up to the starting line, they all forced themselves to still. It was no really big thing, and they raced each other nearly every day. But it was fun to see what speeds they had found they could reach this time.

A red hedgehog stepped up to the line, standing in-between both of the racers. He smiled.

"Racers! On your marks!"

They both tensed.

"Get set!"

Ready positions.

"Go!"

Thus begun the titled 'Calim Route.' At least, that is what all the children called it.

The two started off jogging, keeping their pace with each other, and also pacing themselves. After about thirty seconds, they began to go faster. But they couldn't just pass each other. They were equally matched, as always. But, they went on. They always did. The spectators cheered the foxes on as they approached the wooden fence marking the property of 'The Old Farmer's' Land. None of the children knew his actual name, so they simply called him that. They hopped over it, in perfect synchronization, and hit the farmland. Knowing the route by heart, they both were able to continue running as if they had never even hurtled the fence, a trick practiced for the sake of not wanting to lose the race.

Silas was the one on the right, keeping his pace, breathing steadily, not moving too fast, nor too slow, simply pacing himself and hoping his opponent would run short of breath. Iris, the girl on the left, used the exact same procedures, determined not to lose. They slid right under the chicken coop, scaring the hell out of the inhabitants inside. They did, however, grab a few eggs as they went, chucking them back at the coop for the sake of angering the farmer. They kicked down the doors in the barn, as it was needed in the race, and circled around. Iris, with a mischievous grin, unlatched the stables for kicks. The horses escaped their wooden prisons, and ran around freely in the farm land. The two exited the barn, and ran straight for the pasture. Cows, as you would think, were pretty annoying obstacles. As a result, there were three ways to get through them. One way was to slide under them, like Silas did.

The other way was to jump over them, like Iris did.

The last was to go around. Neither did, it would require losing some ground.

The kids cheered as the cows in Iris's path just hit the dirt, possibly oblivious to what had just happened. One echidna even yelled, "Cow tipping!!"

The farmer, who was an old echidna, ran out of the door with his shotgun, shouting at the 2 competitors.

"You blasted kids and your shenanigans!" he yelled, "Get off of my land!" This only made the spectators laugh, and cheer louder.

The last fence marked the end of the race course, and the two were head to head. They had a quick glare at each other, and sprinted the rest of the way to the fence, and jumped it.

The race ended in a tie. But 'Hey,' the spectators thought to themselves.

'It was still a freaking cool race.'

------

The race had ended about an hour ago, and the kids were in their favorite clearing in the woods, one they hoped was at least semi-secret. They lounged about, leaning against trees and such, chatting about the race that had taken place not long ago. They were congratulating Silas and Iris for their outstanding efforts at making the farmer miserable. Events like those weren't very common in this town, since parents usually are very strict to their kids. The only 'nice' parents in the town, seemed to be Silas' and Iris' parents. Why they were so nice? Nobody really knew.

Silas and Iris were the best of friends, and might as well have been related. They live right next to each other, and usually got together everyday, usually to race each other, like they had just done. Even at night, they would communicate with Morse code, even though sometimes people next door would yell, "Turn out those lights! For Christs' Sake! We can't sleep!" They were easily the fastest runners in the village. Fast enough everybody had given up trying to race against either one of them. Sure, they weren't "Sonic the Hedgehog" fast, or even "half-the-speed-of-sound" fast. As far as they knew, only Sonic got that fast. But compared to normal people, they were pretty quick. When they wanted to be, anyway.

The ear of a nearby fox twitched. He looked into the woods. He stared for a few seconds, then bolted off. All the kids looked at the fox, then at the spot where he had been looking before he ran. A figure appeared in the distance, approaching the children. They strained their eyes to see who it was.

It was a hedgehog, or rather, a police officer. Both, really, but that isn't the point. He was there, that is. He gave a look at the kids, and they looked at Silas and Iris. They all knew why he was here. Suddenly, they all scattered, leaving Silas and Iris to their dooms.

"Traitors." Silas mumbled under his breath.

"Alright you two, let's go," The police officer said sternly, as the kids reluctantly walked to their grim fate.

------

"You really should learn to discipline Silas more, Mrs. Harlem," the police officer said, of the Harlem residence. Silas' house.

"Oh pish-posh," Silas' mother replied. "Let the kids have their fun. Ol' Joseph needs to lighten up anyway."

'Pish-posh?' Silas thought to himself. 'I understand my mom is awesome, but pish-posh?'

"Do you realize that Silas are bad influences to the others? I've gotten several complaints from the other parents."

'They're the ones who cheered us on. Besides, I'm not even the one who let the horses out. Even if it was freakin' cool.' He added another silent comment.

"Bah, they're too strict. This is just a little town, for Petes' sake!" she replied, rambling on again. She sighed, and looked at the chief. "But thank you for telling me this, Harold."

"Only doing my job, ma'm." He responded, then looked at Iris next to him, "Now I need to have the same conversation with the Tern's next door. Come on Iris."

"Bye, Silas," she said as she walked away.

"See ya, Iris," he replied.

Harold walked away, Iris dragging her feet along with him. Silas' mom shut the door as they walked out, and turned around to see Silas trying to sneak away, hoping his mother had a bad memory, or hearing. Both would work. Neither were true.

"And where do you think you're going?"

Silas grimaced. He faced her and gave her the classic "puppy dog eyes" look, perhaps that could get him off the hook?

"You must be stupid, thinking that look would work on me."

'Drat,' He commented silently, another one of his plans foiled. His mom was awesome, but she definately wasn't stupid.

Mrs. Harlan sighed, and looked at her son, "Just what am I going to do with you, Silas?"

"Nothing, mom!" He replied, "I'm a perfectly good child, I'm not getting into trouble! Well, too much trouble, anyway."

"Silas, you trespassed on private property, you smashed some eggs that that man could have sold for money, and you made him miserable, making him do that extra work."

"Well, at least it's only the first freakin' ti- Oops."

"Silas. You do know I don't like that word."

"Do I, really?"

"Yes, you do, Silas."

"It's not even that bad."

"Besides, Silas, it isn't the first time you've trespassed."

"It is the first time we've unleashed the horses."

"How do I know it will be the last?"

"You don't."

She let out an exasperated sigh, resting her head in her palm. "Silas, you may think that I'm a cool mom, and your friends may think I'm a cool mom, but I can't just let you harass everyone with no punishment!"

"But mom..."

"I'm going to let you off the hook this time, but if I hear you're making that man miserable again..."

"Thanks mom!" Silas rushed over to him mom, gave her a quick hug, and dashed straight up to him room. She looked up at his room, and sighed once more.

"What am I going to do with that boy...?"

------

It was about 10 at night, everyone was going to sleep. Except for Silas and Iris. Their rooms were right across from each other. Silas hopped on his bed, and grabbed his flashlight, located right on the windowsill. He turned on the light, and shined it in Iris' bedroom, waiting for hers to come on. After a few seconds, a light came from Iris' room. Silas smiled, it was time to talk. Or whatever you would call it. Instanting-Morsing? Silas and Iris hadn't really thought of a term for it. He pondered it for a second, then snapped back to reality and quickly alternated the flashlight off and on. Morse Code. They sometimes shortened the words, to make it easier on their hands, but they usually signaled out the whole word, they found it more fun that way.

'So, what did your dad say?' He signaled to her.

'He didn't really get all that mad. Yours?' She replied

'Same. Our parents are awesome, huh?'

'Yeah, very.'

'Rematch?'

'Seriously? Now?'

'Sure, why not?' He smiled, knowing this night was going to be fun.

'Cool, lets go.'

Silas grinned, and set down his flashlight. He grabbed his shoes, and a T-Shirt from the closet. His eyes passed over a sweatshirt, but he shrugged it off, closed his closet, and opened the window. It was extremely windy, and nearly pitch-black. He automatically regretted not grabbing a sweatshirt, but he ignored the common sense part of his brain yelling "Idiot! Grab a sweatshirt! Better yet, just go to bed! Fool!" he convinced this part of his mind that it was 'bracing'. He saw Iris open her window, only in a night gown. Grinning, Silas slid down the drainage pipe next to his window, an ever-convenient escape route, and saw Iris do the same.

"Pretty cold out, isn't it?" Iris said

"Yeah, it is." Silas replied, "Sure you don't, like, wanna grab something resembling a sweatshirt?"

"You didn't." Iris replied.

"I'm me. You're you." Silas bantered back.

"Yeah, I'm sure I don't want to grab a sweatshirt."

"Fine, then."

The two dashed off toward the farm land.

------

Instead of looking cool, the Calim route looked a bit creepy at night. Of course, nearly everything looks creepy when you can't tell what it is, at first. The chicken coop looked incredibly frightening, and the barn just looked plain scary. However, they knew the route by heart, so none of this bothered them. And so, they both lined up at their usual starting point.

"You ready to get beat?" Iris asked, with a smug look on her face.

"You wish," Silas shot back.

"No, it doesn't bother me either way, if you're ready or not."

"Let's just start the race, shall we?"

"Ok then, when do we begin?"

"Alright, see that branch up there?" Silas pointed at a tree branch, that was going to fall any second, "When it hits the ground, then we go."

The wind blew a gentle, cool breeze. The branch swayed in tune to the wind. The two-tailed foxes kept a close eye on it. Any second now...

The branch fell. You know how when you jump, sometimes it seems like you're suspended in the air for a moment? That's exactly what seemed to happen here. As if it was falling in slow-motion. Once it hit dirt, they were already off in a flash.

Again, they hurtled the fence in perfect sync, and kept their speed, just like the last race. They slid under the chicken coop, this time not grabbing any eggs, and thankfully not waking up the chickens. Eyes set on the barn, it seemed that one of the doors was already opened. Iris wondered why the door would be open at this time of night. What if the farmer was in there? Even so, she didn't slow down any. Silas took one look at her expression, and then laughed.

"Oh, there's nobody in there Iris, now stop thinking about it, or you're going to lose." He said, and grinned, putting on more speed.

Iris, feeling called out by the remark, quickly forgot her fears, and dashed into the barn.

As soon as they entered, they wished the had not. Silas looked down at his shoes, and found there was an even darker spot on the ground. It trailed off. He hoped he was wrong in what he thought it was. Alas, he wasn't.

They were not alone.

There was a small flash of reflected moonlight, and out of the corner of their eyes, they saw it. Silas and Iris turned, ever-so-slowly, towards where it had come from. There it came again, this time, it accompanied a low, rumbling growl. Both foxes froze, and started praying silently to every god they could think of that it wasn't what they thought it was. A dark shape emerged from the shadow of a haystack, one of the darkest corners of the barn. There it came again, that low growl. As the shape approached the two, it passed under a window, moonlight revealing it for what it really was.

A wolf.

It stalked towards them, and both Silas and Iris were not about to move. They were too frightened to even try. Iris, on the verge of hyper ventilating, and Silas, holding his breath, was on the verge of suffocating, both tried to figure out what to do.

They didn't think quickly enough, however, as the wolf crouched, and lunged as his next meal. Silas dived out of the way, pulling Iris along with him. They landed on something that obviously shouldn't have been there. Silas looked at it, trying to figure out what it was. However, Iris figured it out first.

Pork, anyone?

Silas was barely able to cover Iris' mouth to stop her from screaming. However, in the process, he knocked over several implements, like rakes, hoes, and a shovel. This was adequate noise for the wolf to pinpoint where they were. Silas ran, figuring Iris would have the sense to run while he distracted the wolf. She didn't, at the time. He sprinted, he tripped, he turned, and he saw the wolf stalking toward him, looking quite confident in himself, if it was possible for a wolf to look that way. It crouched, in lunged, and it... Died?

A gunshot rang out, and the wolf was knocked harmlessly to the side of Silas, instead of on top of him. Well, it wasn't harmlessly. The wolf got harmed.

The farmer stood in the doorway of the barn, with a shotgun brought up to his shoulder.

Silas heard him mutter, "Damned kids."

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**Alright, so there's the prelude. We would appriciate if we got some feed back, thanks!**


End file.
